How do you create an expense tracker sheet?

A:

Quick Answer

It is possible to create an expense tracker sheet in Excel 2010 by identifying monthly expenses, budgeting some income into each category and tracking the actual amount spent in each category, notes the Office Support, PCWorld and Financial Literacy Month websites. At the end of the month, compare the amount spent to the month's net income and budgeted amounts to track expenses.

Open a blank spreadsheet by clicking on the ribbon and clicking "File," "New" and then "Create," notes the Office Support website.

Label the cells

In the first row, label the first cell with an "expense" header and then create a "budgeted" column and an "actual spending" column for the desired amount of months. Under the "Expense" header, identify all of the household fixed and variable costs, such as mortgage, insurance, groceries, gasoline and utilities.

Calculate costs

Fill in the empty cells next to each expense with the monthly budgeted amount and the spent amount. In the bottom row under the expenses, create a heading for "total monthly expenses" and add up all of the cells by clicking on the "AutoSum" button in the Editing group on the Home tab.

Compare

Under the "total monthly expenses" line, add a line for "monthly net" income and "remaining amount." Subtract the expenses from the net income amount to determine the surplus or deficit for the month.